Cross My Heart by Megan Collins completely surprised me with its unexpected twists! It’s a compelling and emotional read that keeps you hooked until the end—definitely worth checking out.

I would like to thank Atria Books & NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and fair review.

I absolutely loved this story. The plot twist left me genuinely shocked. A must read for thriller readers!

Whew this was a wile ride! I was hooked from the very beginning! It's such a unique concept and one that was able to fly through it!

Thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for the arc of this one in exchange for an honest review!

This book follows a woman who has had a heart transplant and she connects with the husband of the woman whose heart she received. Things quickly go strange when Rosie becomes infatuated with the husband and the husband is also suspected of killing his wife.

This book was very original and I really liked that. I was unsure about 30% of the way into this book because I thought it was going somewhere where I didn't like. However, things went in a different direction and I really liked the twist so that bumped this book up for me. I won't say any spoilers but just know that this book took a drastic turn.

I will say that I found Rosie a bit annoying throughout the book. She was so obsessed with love that it drove me a little crazy. Of course, others probably like Rosie and it didn't take away from my experience. I liked how the mystery unfolded though and Rosie stepped up at the end.

I enjoyed the emails and random other things thrown in. I saw some complaints about the emails in other reviews but I liked that aspect. It helped to connect with the characters and learn more about them.

Overall, this book was a wild ride. When you read a lot of thrillers like me, I am on the lookout for unique twists and turns. While the twists in this one were a bit unrealistic, I thought it was an interesting read and I enjoyed it!

Excuse me this book had no business being this crazy and good!! Wow just wow this was a wild ride and I ate it up. Such a good story and great idea honestly, I knew from reviews it was gonna be great but truly fun. I am usually pretty picky on this genre but when it hits it hits. Solid 4.5 stars

Wow! This book just when I thought I had figured out there would be another twist ! I just kept wanting to read it . The characters were well developed with the main character being my favorite .

This book was full of twists and turns. As soon as I thought I had it figured out, I was thrown for another loop. The characters were all very multifaceted. Some chapters had you sympathizing, and others had you up in arms. Overall a great story!

4.5 Stars

I couldn’t put this one down! It was fast paced and full of suspense and twists. It was a twisted tale of love and loss with tension, obsession and a cast full of unreliable narrators. I finished this one in two sittings, it was that good! The plot was engaging and I thought the heart transplant storyline was unique. If you’re looking for a page turning thriller, check this one out.

This thriller has some very nice twists! The first part, going back and forth between Morgan's and Rosie's viewpoints with the real life interactions and supposedly anonymous DonorConnect messages really ramp up the suspense, and the creepy factor because something is definitely not right with their relationship. What with Rosie and how she tends to see things through her "Rosie tinted glasses" and how both Morgan and Rosie are keeping secrets about their pasts, it makes for a great twist halfway through, leaving the reader going "what!?" And after that is twist after twist and so many plausible suspects that I kept being blown away by each new revelation.

This was a fun book to read with all the twists and unreliable narrators (because Rosie sure rewrites her past and loves her Rosie tinted glasses, plus Morgan is an author that writes his own versions, twisting reality to fit what he wants) and I had a good time with it.

Thank you to @simon.audio and @librofm for the gifted audiobook! Thank you @atriabooks for the advanced reader copy that I own through a @goodreads giveaway! +
Megan Collins is one of my auto-read authors, she can always be counted on for a great thriller. Cross My Heart is no exception, and I binged it in less than 24hrs. I just couldn't stop listening. This thriller had me bamboozled and entertained, it was such a fun reading experience. If you're looking for a fantastic thriller (especially if you're in a slump) look no further. I absolutely loved this. What a unique premise and satisfying read.

Wow, what a page turner. This book had me on the edge of my seat the entire time and I ended up reading it all in one sitting. There were a lot of twists and turns along the way, and there was a pretty big twist towards the middle of the book that I didn't expect, and I will say, that the story did pick up from there. My main downside, and it's a big one, was that I guessed the ending of this book pretty early on <spoiler> around the time that person was introduced </spoiler> so it wasn't really a shock to me when the big reveal happened. I also was not really a fan of Rosie, initially. The way that she was acting, made it really hard for me to see passed it, which was pretty obsessive, but I do think that this was done intentionally, because it did match the storyline in the beginning and really caused you to question a lot.

Rating: 3.5 stars rounded down
Thank you to Atria Books, Megan Collins, and NetGalley for the eARC of this book. This is my honest review.

Good fast paced thriller. A different premise than what I’m used to but still enjoyable. My first by this author and looking forward to more

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the copy of Cross My Heart. This one gets a 3.5 star rating from me! I kept going back and forth on who I thought the killer was and was entertained throughout, but I think the story got a little long and the ending just wasn’t as gripping as I was hoping it would be.

A simple but compelling premise. What if a year after her heart transplant, a young woman starts reaching out, through a confidential gateway, to the husband of the once owner of her new heart? Tricky thriller with tons of red herrings to keep you off balance and more than one surprise to keep surprised. Fast-paced.

Rosie has had a heart transplant and realizes that she has a famous author's wife's heart. As she and Morgan begin to email back and forth thru the donor registry, she begins to have feelings for him. But as she learns more about them, she wonders if he killed her. Does she want to be with his wife's killer?

This is a good book that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Many twists and turns to keep you guessing.

This one had all the good stuff from tragedy, heartbreak, anger, resentment, and just so emotional with the suspense, lies, and mystery surrounding murder! I really liked Rosie's character and how much she developed from beginning to end. She is failing with relationships and love, she isn't happy while trying to find someone to spend her life with and then her heart gets in the way... literally when it starts to fail and she needs a transplant to live! Rosie dives into connecting through DonorConnect with the wife's husband Morgan whose heart she has. At first she wants to know about Daphne Thorne, she does have her heart so why not know more about the woman whose heart it was to begin with. The problem is Rosie can't tell Morgan she knows whose heart she has, and that she also knows who he is since it is supposed to be anonymous. She starts moving past learning about Daphne and fantasizing about being with Morgan romantically in a relationship. The more Rosie digs to feed her fantasy of her and Morgan the more she gets entangled into what she may not want to, and is Morgan who she thinks he is? Was Morgan and Daphne's marriage like what it was depicted as to the outside world?
I loved how I was intrigued at what Rosie was thinking, and reading about having her "Rosie colored glasses" on when she looked at people and situations around her. The premise doesn't give it away but this is so much more complex with more characters that come into the plot to make it really interesting and twisted! For a little bit I was questioning between two characters who was responsible for the murders and then figured it out near the end, but it was all still soooo good! I like being able to read a story that makes you feel like you have to question if you can trust multiple characters, and figure out their motives and reveal their lies to understand their roles to the storyline! I do like shorter chapters and some of these were a little too long for my liking so that I could not leave off in the middle because ... life and kids, but I loved the whole story itself! The end I was very happy for Rosie to learn what she did about everyone around her and to really reflect. Even though this was of mystery/thriller genre, some of it hit close to home dealing with love, how you can see yourself, how you learn from bad relationships, and could be relatable to some real life outlook! I just loved it all!!! Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books, and Megan Collins for this great read to review! I also loved that Collins came up with a Taylor Swift playlist to go along with this and will definitely have to compare the book to the playlist and see how good they go together!

Thriller • Unreliable Narrator • Mystery
Publication Date • 14 January 2025

❥ Thank you @atriabooks for the free book! And thank you @claireisbookish for the bookmark 🔖

♡ 1 sentence summary: 𝚆𝚘𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝚏𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚑𝚞𝚜𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚍𝚘𝚗𝚘𝚛.

What a ride! If you’re looking for something quick and fast paced to break a reading slump, this might be your book.

This is a cast of unreliable narrators at their finest. I enjoyed how we got multiple perspectives from the “Donor Connect” emails sent back and forth between Rosie and Morgan Thorne.

Morgan Thorne is a best selling author, and also was husband to Daphne, who in dying saved the life of Rosie, our pink haired main protagonist.

Rosie works in her family’s bridal store, a jilted former bride-to-be, who goes for all the wrong men. And now she is online stalking the author who she thinks was married to her heart donor.

There’s some things to unpack about expectations of women/marriage and relationships, as well as the line between inspiration versus profiting from someone else’s story.

However mostly, this was a wild, unhinged ride that you can’t look away from.

The main character of this book was so cringey and made me so uncomfortable. She really needs professional help and I’m disappointed that no one is suggesting that throughout the book. I was interested in the character’s health issues and coping post transplant. I couldn’t get past my feelings for the main character enough to really enjoy this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. I really enjoyed this book and had a fun time reading it. I feel like it's the perfect palate cleanser book as it's very bingeable.

This one was a twisty surprise!

This book follows Rosie, who received a heart transplant a year ago and recently reached out to her donor's family through an anonymous website designed to connect donors and recipients. She connects with Morgan, the husband of her heart donor Daphne, and starts getting to know him. Though Rosie is convinced they share a special bond, she soon uncovers disturbing rumors that raise more questions than answers about who Morgan really is.

I went into this book knowing very little about it, and by the end of part 1, I was even more intrigued about where the story was heading. The narrative was incredibly engaging and held my attention throughout. While some of my theories proved correct and others didn't, I remained completely invested in seeing how everything would unfold.

I loved the mystery and tense atmosphere of the book. The unreliability of Rosie as a narrator added another fascinating layer to the story. The resolution was thought out—even at 90% through, many questions remained unanswered. It built to a whirlwind ending that I thoroughly enjoyed, leaving me guessing until the very last word.

Overall, I enjoyed my time with this one!